Election 101 — By the Numbers (AKA Math and Elections)

Introduction

What does math have to do with politics? Quite a lot, actually.

During the course of an election, everyone wants to know who is leading the race. Which poll do you believe and how to they get their data and rank the candidates? There are many different rating and ranking methods, many of which can be found in Who’s #1? by Carl Meyer and Amy Langville.

There are just about as many voting methods as there are for ranking candidates. The most common include majority rule, where the person with more than half the votes wins; proportional representation, where the number of seats won is proportional to the percentage of votes received; and plurality voting where the person with the most votes wins, even if it is not more than half. Many people believe that the third option is the fairest. Read the following and see if you agree. Mary, John, and Bill all want to be class president. Mary gets 8 votes, John 7, and Bill 6. Mary is the winner because she has the most votes. However, 13 people don’t believe she is qualified. Not so easy to figure out after all.

Politicians always want to know who will vote for them. As the election heats up in the US, candidates are trying to figure out which states deserve most of their campaign time and dollars.” If New York State is not voting for me no matter what, I am spending my time in California.”

And last but not least, if you are a candidate with a less than full bank account, you might want to read In Pursuit of the Traveling Salesman by William Cook to find the fastest and cheapest way to visit all of your constituents.